The Lost Boy by Camilla Läckberg: EW Review

The Nordic crime-fiction trend sparked by The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Henning Mankell’s novels shows no signs of abating. One of the best writers to emerge, I think, is Läckberg, whose husband-and-wife team (Patrik’s a cop, Erica’s a writer) solve murders in their Swedish seaside village. There’s a teensy bit of a Miss Marple/Murder, She Wrote vibe—you do wonder, fleetingly, how so many people in such a small place end up dead—but once you’re past that, the books shine. The plot in this installment, which is about the death of a local official, stutters a bit. But Patrik and Erika’s marriage feels real and utterly uncloying, and Läckberg has, as usual, lavished care on their excellent supporting cast: family, friends, local police officers. B